Rotary-feed gang saw



Jan. 29, 1924. '1,482,323

H. R. SANDERS ROTARY FEED GANG SAW Filed Dec. 3. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1IIIIIIIIHFJ- H. R. SANDERS RTARY FEED GANG sAw Filed Dec. 1921 A 2sheets-,sheet 2 //////////ml u TES HOWELL R. SANDERS, OF SACRAMENTO,CALIFORNIA.

ROTARY-FEED GANG SAW'.

Application led December 8, 1921. Serial No. 519,761.

To all whom t may concern.' i

Be it known that I, HOWELL R. SANnEns, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of Sacramento. county of Sacramento,

and State of California, have invented a new and usefullmprovement in aRotary- Feed Gang Saw, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in gang saws wherein blocks to besawed into slats are fed to power driven saws by a rotating drumarranged to move successive blocks into engagement with the saws. a

The primary object of my invention is to provide an improvedrota'ry feedgang saw. Another object is to provide a device adapted to reduce dangerof accident to an operator.

A further object of 'my invention is, to provide improved feeding meansfacilitating the feeding of blocks topowe'r driven saws.

A still further object is to provide means for preventing thedisplacement of the blocks and slats sawed therefrom by action of thesaws.

Another object is to provide adjustable and replaceable feed, supportingand retaining elements adapted to engage the saws and blocks suppliedtheretofor sawing to insure proper feeding of the blocks and to preventirregular cutting'of slats from thev blocks because of vibration of thesaws.

A further object is to provide means for driving a feed drum and aplurality of saws simultaneously in opposite directions from a commonsource of power and at speeds adaptedto give a maximum eiiiciency.

A still further object is to provide an improved feed drum mounted andoperated in connection with a gang saw and` having means for adjustingthe drum relatively to the saws to obtain a desired depth of cut.

Another object is to provide an improvedy pressure applying elementactuated by a weighted lever to prevent ldisplacement of material duringand after the sawing operation.

I accomplishthese and other objects by means of the device disclosed inthe drawings forming a part of the present specification wherein likecharacters of reference are used to designate similar parts throughout.

said specification and drawings, and `in which: i

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved rotary feed gang saw.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. l, the scale being sligthly reduced.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged broken detail showing the manner in which a blockis fed to the saws.

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail taken upon the line 11-4 of Fig. 1.

My invention is designed particularly for the sawing of slats fromrelatively small blocks of otherwise waste material, and is particularlyadapted for the cutting of slats for the making of pencils. As is wellknown in the making of pencils, slats of wood are first cut into regularsizes and subsequently are grooved to receive the leads and submitted tosubsequent shaping and finishing processes. The slats must be ofaccurate and uniform size and of straight grain. To facilitate thecutting of the slats and to permit the use of small pieces of otherwisewaste lumber, I have devised my improved gang saw.

` eferring to the drawings the numeral l is used to designatein generala suitable framework. A' plurality of circular saws 2 are secured inregularly spaced relation upon an outwardly extending end of a shaft 3suitably mounted upon the upper forward side of the framework, saidshaft 3 being driven from a suitable source of power, not shown, by abelt 4 or other suitable driving y means.

A carrier drum 6 is 'rotatably mounted upon one side of the framework 1with the outer surface in alignment with and slightly spaced from thesaw's 2 upon a shaft 7 mounted in bea-rings 8 adjustably mounted uponthe framework 1 in a manner hereinafter more fully described.v

' The drum 6 is rotated by means of a ring gear 9, secured upon theinner side of the drum, driven by a pinion'fll secured upon a shaft 12at the back of the frame 1, said shaft being turned by a gearlB securedthereon and arranged to bedriven by a pinion 14 secured upon a shaft 16mounted adjacent the shaft 12. The shaft 16 is driven by a pulley 17carrying a belt 18 from a pulley 19V securedupon a shaft 21 mounted upon'the forward side of the frame 1. The shaft 21 is driven from the shaft3 upon which the saws 2 are mounted by means of a' belt 22 applied overpulleys 23 and 24e secured upon the shafts 3 and 21 respectiva 1y'. Therelative sizes of the pulleys and gears are adapted to Ireduce the speedbetween the saw shaft 3 and the drum 6 and to rotate the drum and thesaws in opposite directions to drive the drum at a speed to obtainmaximum efiiciency in sawing.

The drum 6 is provided with a plurality of feed arms 26 extendingoutwardly through apertures in the rim of the drum said arms beingradially disposed and adjustably secured upon the drum by means of setscrews 27 mounted upon feed arm retaining members'28 bolted or otherwisesecured upon a web 29 formed within the drum. The arms 26 are made ofwood and are positioned in alignment with the saws 2 so that when thesaws and drum are rotated the outwardly extending end of the arms willbe moved into engagement with the saws and slots 30 be thereby cut inthe ends of said arms to form fingers 3l extending between the saws 2,the first rotation of the drum causing the slots to be cut andsubsequent rotations causing the saws to be received by said slotswithout further cutting of the arms.

Block supporting members 32 are adjustably and removably secured uponthesurface of the drum 6 by means of set screws 33 mounted in clampingmembers 34 bolted onto the surface of the drum immediately in advance ofeach arm 26. The supporting members 32 are made lof wooden blocks of asuitable size and shape and are secured upon the surface of the drum topresent a flat upper surface tangentially disposed in respect to thedrum, the rearward end of said member 32 abutting against the extendingend of the arms 26. The members 32 are of a thickness adapted to bringthe outer surface thereof into engagement with the saws when carriedtherepast by the rotation of the drum, such engagement with the sawscausing grooves 35 to be cut upon the surface of each member 32 toreceive the edges of the saws when carried thereby during subsequentrotations of the drum 6.

The supporting members 32 and the arms 26 are arranged to receive blocks36 to be fed to the saws, the block being placed thereon upon the sideof the machine opposite the saws, rotation of the drum 6 operating tocarry the blocks into engagement with the saws 2. A fixed guide 37 issecured upon the frame 1 by means of pins 38, the Vguide 37 beingslightly spaced from the surface of the drum and extending from theforward side of the machine to a point beyond the saws. An adjustableguide 39 is pivotally and slidably mounted above the drum and arrangedto extend to a point slightly in front of the saws 2, said guide 3 9being slidably mounted through a slot in a pin 4l slidably and pivotallymounted in a bearing member 42 slidabl and pivotally mounted upon ashaft 43. et screws 44 are mounted at each bearing Aportion to securethe several elements in any desired position relative to the fixed guide37. rlhe adjustable guide 39 is madel slightly resilient and is normallyplaced so that the forward end, which is slightly offset, will bespacedfrom the fixed ide a distance slightly less than the thickness ofthe blocks 36.

The blocks are placed upon the supporting member 32 by an operator sothat the ends will be engaged by the arms 26, the rotation of the drumcarrying the block upwardly and forwardly toward the saws 2. The blocksare normally placed with one side against the fixed guide 37, butwhether so placed or not, the blocks will be carried into engagementwith the adjustable guide 39, which, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings,is angularly disposed to form a wide entrance and as above stated, toextend toward the fixed guide so that when a block 36 is moved intoengagement therewith the guide 39, said guide will be forced outward- 1ythereby causing a slight pressure to be applied upon the side of theblock to hold the same snugly against the fixed guide 37. The saws 2 aresecured upon the shaft 3 to give the desired spacing from the fixedguide 37 which thereby assures that each block will be fed to the sawsin true and correct alignment. The saws are also so spaced from eachother that as each block 36 is forced therepast by an arm 26 said'.block will be sawed into slats of uniform thickness, the sawed slatsbeing Acarried downwardly past the saws by the fingers 3l formed uponthe ends of the arms 26 as above described.

The saws being arranged as shown in the drawings are rotated in aclockwise direction thereby causing the teeth to move upwardly intoengagement with a block being sawed. Rearward displacement off the block36 is prevented by the feed arm 26. ln order to prevent upward:displacement of the block or the slats formed therefrom l have provideda pressure block 46 adjustably mounted to extend through a pressure foot47 keyed upon one end of a pivotally mounted shaft 43 upon the other endof which is secured a lever 49 having suitable Weights 51 suspended uponthe free end thereof to normally move the shaft pivotally to depress thefoot 47 upon the top of a block 36 when moved thereunder by the rotationof the drum 6. The blocks 36 held from lateral movement by the guides 37and 39 are thus held. against upward movement by the foot 47 when movedinto engagement with the saws by the arms 26.

The pressure block 46 extends through the presser foot 47 and engagesthe saws 2, slots being cut in the ends thereof by the' first engagementwith the saws to permit lsaid saws to rotate between fingers formed bysaid slots without further cutting of the llt) lll

' ance between the Lacasse ceiving device such as a conveyor or thelike,

not shown.

The shaft 48 is mounted through bearings 52 adapted "to -be verticallyadjusted by adjusting screws 53 whereby the vclear'- may be regulated. j

In operation?, blocks 86, which have been previously sawed, from anysuitable Amaterial to the vdesired length and width and,

of approximately the desired thickness, are placed upon the arms 26 b`yan operator standing` upon the side of the machine opposite-the saws,said blocks being carried successively into engagement with the drum andsawed into slats of a thickness equal to the clearance between the saws,the slats being delivered from the lower side of the saw as abovedescribed.

The blocks are thus sawed and delivered upon the side of the machineopposite the operator who is thus insured against accident by contactwith the saws or by being struck by a block or slat thrown from the saw.

The slats will be of a uniform thickness and free from irregularities asvibration of the saw is prevented by the slots formed in the arms 26 andthe block 46 and the grooves in the supporting elements 32. The arms 26and the member 46 may be made of any convenient waste wood and when tthe ends become ragged by Contact with the saws the ends may be sawedoft' and the members advanced in their respective retaining elements andnew slots cut in the manner above described. The retaining members maythus be replaced with very little effort and negligible expense wheneverthe exposed ends become suiliciently worn to permit any vibration of thesaw. The supporting elements are also easily replaced e whenever thegrooves thereon become excessively widened by the saw.

In order to permit the drum 6 to be adjusted to vary the clearancebetween its surface and the saws 2, I have provided the bearings 8 uponwhich said drum is mounted with shoes 56 slidably engaging the frame l,said shoes being threaded to receive vertically disposed adjustingscrews 57 carried by lugs 58 formed upon the frame. Bevel gears 59 aresecured upon the screws 57 and are presser foot and the drum`arranged'tb engage similar gears 61 secured upon an operating shaft 62provided withv a crank 63 whereby the screws 57 may be turned to raiseor lower the bearings 8 toy vary the distance between the saws and thedrum I have described my invention in its applic'ation to the makingofslats for the manufacture of pencils; however, itis equally useful inother applications of a similar nature where it is desired `to makeslats of narrow width and short lengths, not readily or safely handledupon aflat feed table of the kind found in common practice. The detailsof construction are, of course, subject to modification withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention.

`Having thus described my invention what I claim as newand desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

15A gang saw comprisingV a rotatable drum; a plurality of spaced sawsmounted adjacent theperiphery of the drum; means forlr'otating the drumandthe saws; ,al plu rality of radially disposed feed arms having oneend thereof extending outwardly through apertures provided in theperiphery of the drum and mounted for adjustment therethrough; a b-locksupporting member secured adjacent each feed arm, saidl supportingmember and feed arms being arranged to receive blocks placed thereon andto carry said blocks into engagement with thesaws to saw said blocksinto slats, said feed arms and supporting members being adapted to becut by the saws during the first movement thereby to form slots andgrooves adapted to receive said saws and prevent further cutting thereofduring succeeding movements past the saws; and means for holding theblocks in engagement with the saws and with the feed and supn portingmembers during sawing.

2. In a gang saw, the combination with a plurality of spaced saws and arotatable carrier drum arranged to move blocks to be sawed into slatsinto engagement with said saws, of a presser foot pivotally mountedadjacent the saws and the drum; a presser block longitudinallyadjustable through T- said foot and arranged to extend forwardlytherefrom; lingers formed upon the forward end of said pressure block toextend between the saws; and means for normally depressing said foot,block, and ngers against a block to be sawed while in engagement withthe saw to prevent displacement of the block and slats sawed therefromby the saws.

3. In a gang saw, the combination with a plurality of spaced saws and arotatable carrier drum arranged to move blocks to be sawed into slatsinto engagement with said saws, of a presser foot pivotally mounted upona shaft adjacent the drum and saws; a i

wooden pressure block longitudinally adjustable through the presser footand arranged to extend forwardly into engagement with the saws, saidsaws cutting slots upon the end of said block to form fingers extendingbetween the saws; and a weighted lever secured upon the shaft tonormally depress the foot and the pressure block against a block to besawed when moved thereunder into engagement with thesaw to preventdisplacement of the block being sawed by the sawrthe lingers upon theend of the pressure block preventing displacement of the slats when theblock has been sawed through.

et. ln a gang saw, the combination with a rotatable carrier drum, of aplurality of inwardly projecting retaining members Secured upon theinner sidev of the drum; feed arms longitudinally movable through saidretaining members and arranged to extend outwardly through apertures inthe surface of the drum in alignment with a plurality of saws, the outerends of said arms being cut through by the saws to form feed fingers;

and means for adjustably securing said arms within the retaining memberswhereby the arms may be moved outwardly to present uncut portions to thesaws.

5. In a gang saw, the combination with a plurality of spaced saws and arotatable carrier drum arranged to move blocks to be sawed into slatsinto engagement with said saws, of an apertured presser foot pivotallymounted adjacent the saws and the drum; a presser block slidably mountedwithin said foot and extending outwardly from both ends thereof; iingersformed upon the forward end of the block to extend between the saws,said fingers being formed by grooves cut therethrough by the saws; andmeans for normally depressing said foot, block and fingers against ablock to be sawed while in engagement with the saws to preventdisplacement of the block and slats by the saws.

In witness whereof `I hereunto set my signature.

HOWELL R. SANDERS.

